Scientific Names of Plants HOW TO SAY THEM AND WHAT THEY MEAN Pronunciation Meaning References I. PRONUNCIATION 1.

Latin has no "silent letters." Pronounce every letter. 2. In the United States there are two main systems of pronouncing Latin scientif ic names, a traditional English system and an academic system that tries to approximate ho w the ancient Romans spoke. The traditional system is more common. The following table lists the main features of each system. Letters not listed are pronounced as in Englis h. LETTER TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC long a as in fate as in father short a as in fat as the first a in apart ae as i in machine as ai in aisle au as aw in bawl as ou in house c before a, o, u: as in cat before e, i, y: as in center always as in cat ch as c in cat or ch in church as ckh in blockhead long e as in me as in they short e as in pet as in pet ei as in height as in rein eu at beginning of word: as in Europe within word: as in rheumatism as Latin e + u, run together rapidly g before a, o, u: as in get always as in getbefore e, i, y: as in gem long i as in ice as in machine short i as in pin as in pin consonant i (j) as j in jam as y in yes long o as in clover as in clover short o as in not as in off oe as i in machine as oi in oil ph as in philosophy as in up hill r as in English trilled as in Spanish t as in table before i: as in nation always as in table th as in theater as in hothouse long u as in rude as in rude short u as in tub as in put ui as w in we as in ruin v as in English as w in we long y as in my as u in French pur short y as in cynical as in French du or in German ber Examples: Julius Caesar in the traditional English system is pronounced JOO-leeus SEE-zer. In the academic system, the name is pronounced YOO-lee-us KAI-sar. Cyperus papyr us, papyrus, in the traditional system is si-PEE-rus pa-PIE-rus; academically, it is k-PAY-rus pah-P -rus. 3. A Latin word has as many syllables as it has vowels. To divide a word into sy

llables, note the following: a. A single consonant between two vowels goes with the following syllable: Ro-sa , Pi-sum. b. When two or more consonants stand between vowels, the last consonant goes with the following syllable: phyl-lum, al-ba. However, p, b, t, d, c, and g with either l or r, and th, ch, ph, and qu count as a single consonant. See the last syllables in Li-ri-oden-dron, pa-lus-tris, Chi-o-nan-thus. 4. A syllable is long if it has a long vowel, or a vowel followed by two or more consonants. Otherwise it is short. Examples: the first syllable of P-nus is long because it ha s a long vowel. The next-to-last syllable of mi-cro-phyl-la is long because its vowel is followed by two consonants (ll). 5. The accent in a Latin word falls on the syllable second from the end if that syllable is long (or if the word is two syllables long). Otherwise the accent is on the syll able third from the end. Examples: leu-co-PHYL-la; Rho-do-DEN-dron; flo-ri-D -na; Mag-NO-li-a; LU-te-a; me-sem-bry-an-the-mi-FO-li-a. 6. When a name comes from the name of a person, the accent and pronunciation are adjusted so as not to mangle the person's name completely. Example: michauxii, meaning "of (Andr) Michaux," is pronounced mee-SHOW-ee-eye (or -ee-ee), not meeKHO WK-see-ee. Halesia, the silverbell tree, is often pronounced ha-LEE-see-a, but s ince it is named for Stephen Hales, it may be better to say HALE-see-a, even though t his makes the "e" silent, a no-no in Latin. II. MEANING 1. Latin indicates the function of words in a sentence by word endings. For exam ple: Canis mordet puerum is the same as puerum mordet canis or puerum canis mordet. T he word endings tell you which word is the subject (canis) and which word is the ob ject (puerum). English indicates the function of words by word order: Compare The dog bites the boy with the boy bites the dog. Only the word order is different, but the se ntences have different meanings. 2. The two word-functions you will see in scientific plant names are the nominat ive or subject function (or case) and the genitive or possessive function (case). This table shows the most common endings for nominative and genitive words in the singular. "TYPE I" WORDS "TYPE II" WORDS masculine feminine neuter m. and f. neuter Nominative -us -a -um -is -e Genitive -i -ae -i -is -is 3. The nominative ending shows that the word is the subject of a sentence. The g enitive ending shows possession, like the English word "of" or word ending "'s." Example s of "Type I" words: Rosa, a rose (subject); rosae, of a rose; Linnaeus, Linnaeus (su bject);

Linnaei, of Linnaeus; godfreyi, of (Robert) Godfrey; henryae, of (Mary) Henry. " Type II" words: apalachicolense, Apalachicolan (subject); the second word in capillus-Ven eris, hair of Venus. 4. Specific names consist of two words: the name of the genus followed by the sp ecific epithet. The genus name is a noun. The specific epithet plays one of three gramm atical roles: an adjective modifying the genus name, a noun in the genitive case meanin g "of x" (where x is the noun that forms the epithet), or a noun in apposition to the gen eric name. a. Examples of adjectives: Magnolia virginiana, "Virginian magnolia" (sweet bay) ; Camellia japonica, "Japanese camellia;" Boltonia apalachicolensis, "Apalachicola n boltonia;" Quercus alba, "white oak;" Pinus palustris, "swamp pine" (longleaf pi ne); Croomia pauciflora, "few-flowered croomia;" Capparis cynophallophora, "dog-penis bearing caper." These adjectives must match the genus name in gender, number, and case. b. Examples of genitives: Pinus elliottii, "pine of (Stephen) Elliott" (slash pi ne); Minuartia godfreyi,"Minuartia of (Robert) Godfrey;" Hymenocallis henryae, "Hymenocallis of (Mary) Henry;" Hasteola robertiorum, "Hasteola of the Roberts." These genitives often commemorate the first collector of a species. My friend Ge rald Smith, who works on spider-lilies, asked me to suggest a name for a spider-lily that was first noticed at Cow Creek Landing on the Ochlockonee River in northern Flor ida. I created the name Hymenocallis rivi-bovum, "Hymenocallis of the river of cows," to commemorate Cow Creek, but Gerald took so much abuse about this name that he has changed it to Hymenocallis frankliniensis, for Franklin County. c. Examples of nouns in apposition: Xena, Warrior Princess; Adiantum capillusveneris, "Venus 's-hair adiantum;" Acer negundo, "Negundo maple" (box elder); Aesculus pavia, "pavia buckeye" (red buckeye); Zephyranthes atamasco, "atamasco zephyranthes" (atamasco lily); and Diospyros kaki, "kaki diospyros" (Japanese persimmon). Many of these names in apposition are names for the plant in other languages taken over as specific epithets. 5. Generic names are nouns that can come from any source whatsoever. In practice , they tend to come from a few main sources. a. Classical Latin plant names, sometimes transferred by modern botanists to oth er plants: Quercus (oak), Fagus (beech), Pinus (pine), Acer (maple), Cornus (dogwoo d), Rosa (rose), Lilium (lily), Malus (apple), Ilex (holly). b. Classical Greek plant names, sometimes transferred by modern botanists to oth er plants: Rhododendron (rhododendron, azalea), Narcissus (daffodil), Anemone (anemone), Styrax (snowbell), Thuja (arbor vitae), Hieracium (hawkweed), Myrsine (myrsine), Carya (hickory), Melia (chinaberry), Myrica (wax myrtle, bayberry), T ypha (cattail), Zea (corn), Smilax (greenbriar). c. Names from Latin and Greek myths, taken over by recent botanists for plant na mes:

Nyssa (tupelo, gum), Andromeda (andromeda), Calypso (calypso), Liriope (monkey grass), Iris (iris). d. Modern names made from one or more Greek words: Liriodendron (tulip poplar), Philodendron (philodendron), Chionanthus (fringe tree, granddaddy greybeard), Helianthus (sunflower), Chrysanthemum (chrysanthemum), Eremochloa (centipede grass), Cynodon (Bermuda grass), Stenotaphrum (St. Augustine grass), Eriobotrya (loquat), Thelypteris (woods fern), Pyracantha (pyracantha), Pittosporum (pittosporum), Podocarpus (podocarpus), Cladium (sawgrass), Dirca (leatherwood), Hymenocallis (spider lily), Hippeastrum (amaryllis), Lycopodium (clubmoss), Lycopersicon (tomato), Rhapidophyllum (needle palm), and many others. This is probably the largest category of plant generic names. e. Names of famous botanis ts and other people, put into Latin form: Linnaea (twinflower), Poinsettia (poinsettia), Camellia (camellia, tea), Magnolia (magno lia), Kalmia (mountain laurel), Halesia (silverbell tree), Croomia (croomia), Chapmann ia (alicia), Harperocallis (Harper's beauty), Serenoa (saw palmetto), Cunninghamia (chinese evergreen), Gardenia (gardenia), Woodwardia (chain fern), Torreya (torreya), Sabatia (marsh pink), Wisteria (wisteria), Sequoia (redwood), Forsyth ia (forsythia), Albizia ("mimosa," silk tree), and many others. Probably the second largest category of generic names. f. Names from languages other than Latin and Greek: Sabal (cabbage palmetto), Catalpa (catalpa), Musa (banana), Sorghum (sorghum), Nandina (nandina, heavenly bamboo), Nelumbo (lotus), Nuphar (spatterdock), Guaiacum (lignum vitae), Hevea (rubber). g. Names from other sources. This grab bag includes names of unknown origin like Liatris (blazing star) and cute names like Trilisa (deer's tongue--an anagram of Liatris), various medieval and modern Latin names like Aquilegia (columbine), and mixtures of Latin and Greek names like Taxodium (bald cypress). III. REFERENCES Good guides to pronunciation and meaning of Latin plant names are: Stearn, W. T. 1996. Stearn's dictionary of plant names for gardeners. London: Ca ssell. The best book in English for origins of plant names. Marks the accented syllable for each name. Coombes, A. J. 1994. Dictionary of plant names. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. This book seems to recommend a weird combination of the academic and traditional pronunciations of names. Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany, 8th edition. New York: American Bo ok Company. This is a technical book about the flora of the northeastern United States, but it gives the meaning of every genus and species name and indicates the accent. Still in print. http://members.aol.com/magarland/botlat/testhand.htm Since scientific names are Latin, many beginners find them quite hard to pronoun ce (or remember, for that matter). This site provides some formalized guidance on spoken Latin an d its meaning. There are two systems of pronunciation using English Latin - a traditional and a n academic. Nonetheless, once learned, speaking Latin words is not forgotten easily. One warning, however, is that each country seems to have its own dialect, for in stance Italian Latin. Although Latin is theoretically dead, I would suspect that Italians have a home court adv

antage. Meanings of epithets and the appropriate endings to the words are also useful to know. This is a useful s ite for learning how to say the proper names of plants--a skill for scientists and learned gardeners alike. (*** 1/2) -SR